Simi Valley School Board Works Out Details on New Magnet Campus : Education: Members clash, but also agree to series of ‘assumptions’ about performing arts and technology site.

Ten days after voting to establish a new performing arts and technology magnet high school, the Simi Valley school board Thursday began hashing out the details, pondering everything from when to appoint a principal to whether the new school should field a soccer team.

At a daylong retreat at their Wood Ranch conference center, board members clashed with each other and district administrators over a number of issues--loudly disagreeing over whether the Simi Valley Unified School District should take the lead in helping the homeless and whether it should hire an additional reading teacher.

Much of their time and attention, however, was spent agreeing to a series of “assumptions” about the magnet school, set to open in September, 1996.

The school they described will have 1,200 students, including special education and severely disabled students. Youths from anywhere in the district can choose to enroll, without having to audition or take a test. If more than 1,200 students want to attend, there will be a lottery.

The school will have an unusual schedule that would allow students to learn outside the classroom, in local museums and theaters. Graduation requirements would be the same as at other high schools in the district. Computers will be used in teaching and learning math, science and other subjects, as well as in the arts.

For all their agreement on assumptions, however, the trustees still left plenty of work for a slew of magnet school planning committees set to begin work in August.

“There’s still a lot of unanswered questions,” said Trustee Debbie Sandland, the board member who voted against the plan to close Sequoia Junior High School and create the magnet high school. Key to the plan is converting the district’s two existing high schools into four-year programs.

For instance, will the school have a traditional band?

“I would expect, at performing arts, there would be bands, but they wouldn’t be marching bands,” Assistant Supt. Susan Parks said.

Will there be sports teams?

Trustee Norm Walker said a low-cost sport like soccer might work at the new school, while football probably would not. But Trustee Carla Kurachi said students at the school should be concentrating on the performing arts and technology, not athletics.

That did not satisfy Walker. “It’s a high school,” he said. “If you tag that there’s just a group of technology nerds or they are just the budding actors and actresses, then I’m not sure that’s where we want to go with this school.”

In other business, the board asked district staff to pursue the possibility of having complete student academic and disciplinary records available during expulsion hearings. The board now only hears about the specific offense a student is accused of before it questions the student. Kurachi compared the change to allowing the O. J. Simpson jury to hear about Simpson’s history of domestic violence.

The board also discussed a proposal by Kurachi and Sandland to attempt to assist homeless people. Walker and member Diane Collins said the board should spend its time on education, not social problems.

Finally, Kurachi and Sandland pushed a proposal to hire a remedial reading teacher to help students at schools throughout the district.

“Are we so poor that we can’t afford $30,000 to ensure that kids can read?” Kurachi asked.

Trustee Judy Barry said the district is financially strapped, and she noted that the district is already teaching students how to read.